NCRERN Newsletter: Winter 2024
Welcome to the Winter Edition of the NCRERN Newsletter! In this issue, we’ll provide an update on what partner districts have been up to and share selected rural-focused resources and opportunities that you may find of interest.
New York & Ohio Rural Research Network (RRN)
Our New York & Ohio rural research network (RRN) districts are more than halfway through the school year in their repiloting of the What’s Your Path (9th graders) and Postsecondary Transitions Checklist (12th graders) interventions. These interventions seek to support students in exploring various postsecondary pathways and transitions into these pathways, respectively. This is the second year that our districts are piloting these interventions, and we’ve been able to learn so much from improvements in implementation compared to last year. In addition to getting a better feel for the logistics of the interventions, we’ve heard some best practices across the network, including:
Several districts working on the checklist intervention administered a beginning-of-year survey for 12th grade students. This survey allowed districts to gather information on students' postsecondary plans, how confident they are in knowing the steps to pursue those plans and providing a space for students to express concerns or ask questions.
Districts piloting What’s Your Path are incorporating opportunities for 9th students to have time during the school day to periodically review and reflect on their current progress in their classes. This has helped students make connections between what they do now matters for their future.
Both groups of districts have mentioned how they are leveraging community partners to support their students’ postsecondary readiness and transitions. Examples of this include bringing back alumni and local employers to talk about career paths and bringing in representatives from local colleges to help students fill out applications.
We’re excited to continue to learn more from our districts over the rest of this school year. This allows us to not only gather promising practices and share them with others but also gain a deeper understanding of implementing these interventions to help situate the results from their evaluation.
National Replication Network
NCRERN has partnered with Infinite Campus on the LIFT Up Attendance program, which delivers personalized messages via Infinite Campus’ messenger feature. Messages are sent directly to caregivers, providing crucial information about their student's absences. This program seeks to offer an effective solution to address absenteeism and promote student success by emphasizing the importance of attendance and fostering collaboration between schools and families. Districts are more than halfway through piloting this intervention, which currently reaches over 20,000 students in 37 school districts across 15 states.
Rural Education Resource Roundup
In this edition of the Rural Resource Roundup, we have opportunities to join CAST for a project on supporting students in STEM, an upcoming webinar on the Why Rural Matters report, a plug for the recent Education Recovery Scorecard report released earlier this month, an upcoming webinar from the Rural Libraries Network, and a summer institute opportunity at Harvard University for K-12 educators.
We hope you will engage with NCRERN by visiting our website, reaching out to us, or forwarding this newsletter to someone interested in rural education.
Warmest wishes,
Jenn